He had achieved success beyond his wildest dreams; wealth, fame and the
adulation of thousands of devoted adherents.

Yet for the last five years of his life, L. Ron Hubbard, founder of
Scientology, dwelt, a virtual prisoner of his own paranoia, a recluse in
self-imposed exile, on a ranch in the desert of Creston, California. Surrounded by a
handful of trusted aides, he handed over the running of his multimillion dollar empire to
a chosen few. Even his wife was cut off - after she got out of prison after serving a
sentence for her part in the notorious Snow White case, she never saw her husband again.

In fact, few did. Fearing indictment in the Snow White case, Hubbard fled
to the desert in the early 80s, leaving behind his role as de facto controller of the
Scientology empire and taking with him only a handful of trusted aides, mostly those
now-grown messengers from the Commodore's Messenger Org, who had, in some cases literally,
grown up under the Machiavellian tutelage of Hubbard, and became his emissaries to the
empire he oversaw.

The Vultures Gather

Of these former messengers turned executives, the future head of
Scientology, David Miscavige, was amongst those angling to take control of the church upon
its founder's death. But despite chronic ill health, the founder lived on, leaving
Miscavige - and others, including Terri Gamboa, Vicki Aznaran, Lyman Spurlock and Norman
Starkey -- in a state of flux. They controlled the church, for all intents and purposes.
But their authority came only through their appointed - some say self-appointed - role as
the controllers of LRH's communication with the world. As LRH himself may have written, he
who controls the comm controls the game. But events, as we shall see, were spinning out of
control for these so-called young rulers of Scientology.

Also omnipresent during Hubbard's final years were Pat and Annie Broeker,
a couple who lived with LRH in Creston. While their official duties were to take care of
Hubbard's welfare, as those closest to Source, they became important players in the
operation of the church itself, given their enormous influence over LRH as his day-to-day
caretakers. On a more practical level, Pat Broeker, in particular, oversaw the financial
dealings between Hubbard and the church, and eventually became such a trusted friend that
LRH named him as successor, the Loyal Officer who would look after his church after his
passing.

A body; still warm, much mourned but quickly forgotten

On January 24 1986, under circumstances that can at best be characterised
as 'suspicious', L. Ron Hubbard died. Although his condition had been steadily
deteriorating for years, even the coronor noted that there were irregularities surrounding
his death, including the presence in his body of vast quantities of Vistaril, a powerful
ani-psychotic medication. Just days before Hubbard's death, his personal physician,
Scientologist Gene Denk, left for a gambling vacation in Las Vegas with some of Hubbard's
top aides, including Gamboa, Miscavige and wife, and the Aznarans. By the time he
returned, there was nothing he could do. Hubbard died, and the battle for control of his
legacy, which had been simmering for years, took centre stage.

LRH left behind a vast corporate empire, including millions of dollars
worth of copyrights and trademarks, as well as a personal fortune rumoured to be in the
hundreds of millions. Rumour, though, is all that is available - the vast portion of
Hubbard's riches were buried far inside the CoS ledgers, safe from the prying eyes of the
IRS, which had been threatening an audit of Hubbard for years, right up until his death.
But even leaving aside his personal fortune, Hubbard's legacy was rich - and there was no
shortage of people eager to take a cut.

Fatal Curiousities

The day before Hubbard died, his will was redrafted. Gone was the
reference to Pat Broeker, who had been the executor in the previous will. The new
executor, who would oversee the transfer of all Hubbard's intellectual property to a trust
known as Author's Family Trust-B, and from there, into the newly created vessel, the
Church of Spiritual Technology, was Norman Starkey, a longtime CoS heavyweight who had
earned the animosity of many now-disenfranchised Scientologists during the days of the
Missionholders Conference in 1982, when David Miscavige and the young rulers first made
waves as the new power behind LRH's throne. Gone, too, was Norton S. Karno, Hubbard's
former tax lawyer whose presence weaves through the story of the Church of Scientology
like an invisible, but unbreakable thread.

Starkey became Hubbard's executor, and David Miscavige took the reins of
power as effortlessly as he had disposed of his rivals to the throne in previous internal
skirmishes. There was no explanation for this last minute changing of the guard. But it
was not long before those most likely to raise questions about the new regime - Pat and
Annie Broeker - disappeared from the eye of the storm as though they had never been. With
the Broekers out of the picture, there was no one who could pose a significant threat to
Miscavige, and, like one born with the divine right of kings, he took his place as titular
head of the church, highest ranking officer in the Sea Org and ruler of the Scientology
empire without firing a single shot. He remains there to this day.

And the truth shall set them free

The world, however, has moved on - and now, some of those same people who
were present during the last days of LRH have come forward to tell what they know. Day by
day and thread by thread, the real story of what happened to this present day Lear at the
end of his reign is emerging. It is to assist in this exploration of the secret history of
Scientology that this web page was created.

We have assembled documents, including - for the first time on the
internet - the 1979 Last Will and Testament of L. Ron Hubbard, one of the few pieces of
tangible evidence linking the mysterious Norton Karno with the Scientology empire. We have
also collected posts from those who were there, and legal filings from those who have gone
before us down the path towards solving what could be the greatest murder mystery of the
last part of this century. We invite those with a story to tell to contact us, and share
any information that could shed light on what really happened in the desert that fateful
January day. Confidentiality is, of course, assured.

These documents give the reader a rare peek inside the constantly shifting
power structure within the CoS. In the first Will, dated 1979,
Hubbard's lawyer Norton S. Karno, immortalized on the Friends of Norton Karno pages, appears as
Executor and Personal Representative, a position which would have given him considerable
power over the bulk of the church's money.

In 1982, however, mere days after the corporate restructuring had taken
place, Hubbard drafted another Will, and Karno was removed from
his position as Executor, to be replaced by Patrick Broeker, then amongst those closest to
the old man. A codicil, dated 1983, includes a clause forbidding
any autopsy, viewing or service, stating instead that Hubbard's body is to cremated as
soon as possible after his death.

Broeker's moment in the sun comes to an end with the establishment of the
final Will of LRH, drafted the day before his death in January,
1986, which handed control of the estate to Norm Starkey. His duties mainly concerned with
transfering the vast number of copyrights left in trust by LRH to the Church of Spiritual
Technology, the ultimate keeper of the tech, Starkey is also head of Author Services Inc.
His real role within the CoS command structure is as yet unclear.

During the course of his herculean struggle with the CoS corporate hydra,
FACTnet board member Larry Wollersheim challenged the probate that had originally disposed
of LRH's estate. In this filing, part of an ognoing case that is yet another volley in his
legal onslaught against the CoS, he lays out what he sees as the
real story behind LRH's death.

For those who read this page seeking an answer, we apologize. Like life
itself, this page is a work in progress. We would be happy to receive email from anyone
with information, questions, comments, or even an opinion on the question of what really
happened to L. Ron Hubbard. Future additions to this page will include a text version of
the coroner's report, as well as more information from the probate filing - as well as, we
hope, more personal recollections from those who know the answers that we seek. Send
us email at snefru@earthlink.net